Light Science Technologies Holdings PLC on Thursday said its loss narrowed and revenue increased during its latest half year, despite headwinds plaguing its smaller division.
The Derby, England-based plant monitoring solutions developer said its pretax loss narrowed in the six months ended May 31 to £809,281 compared with a £1.3 million loss in the previous year. Its basic and diluted loss per share narrowed to 0.38 pence from 0.73p.
Light Science attributed the reduction to cost-cutting measures implemented this year and in financial 2022, which it said have resulted in a 20% reduction in overheads along with ongoing savings.
Revenue meanwhile increased 22% to £4.4 million from £3.6 million. For Light Science’s Contract Electronics Manufacture division, the manufacturing arm of sister company Light Science Technologies, revenue rose to £4.4 million from £3.5 million, while revenue for the Controlled Environment agriculture was insubstantial, falling to £3,932 from £13,195.
Of the CEM division, Light Science said it was ‘very pleasing to see market conditions gradually improving, with reduced supply chain constraints, although the division is still experiencing more trade friction than historically in pre-pandemic times.’
Meanwhile Light Science said the CEA division’s ‘elongation of the sales cycle’ was in large part due to growers experiencing ongoing input inflation, causing delays to their capital expenditure commitments. It said it is focusing on augmenting its client portfolio with growers who are less impacted by high input costs.
Cost of sales increased to £3.4 million from £2.8 million, but administrative expenses fell to £1.6 million from £2.0 million.
Light Science said it is now ‘wholly focused’ on achieving top-line revenue growth and ‘[remains] confident that those revenue opportunities will crystallise over time,’ although it could not say exactly when. It said it is examining other opportunities, such as possible acquisitions, to mitigate this risk.
‘We continue to be excited by the growth potential across both divisions,’ said Chief Executive Officer Simon Deacon. ‘With the CEM division continuing to be our predominant revenue generator, and the CEA division continuing to develop and market solutions to the unprecedented pressures affecting the agricultural sector, we are well-placed to take advantage of growth opportunities.’
Light Science shares were up 7.3% at 2.20p in London on Thursday afternoon.
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